Louisville Family Law®

Dealing with an unfair prenuptial agreement

Dealing with an unfair prenuptial agreement

Posted By
Louis P. Winner

For Kentucky residents of varying levels of wealth, prenuptial agreements
provide a way to make important decisions about money and other relationship
priorities before couples legally bind their unions. A recent post on
this blog discussed some of the major benefits couples experience when
they execute prenups. However, not all prenuptial agreements are created
equally and in some cases prenups designate inequitable power between
the future spouses.

For example, there are instances when prenuptial agreements are made under
one signors' duress. Individuals can be coerced into signing prenups
that they do not agree with but feel they must enter in order to please
their future partners. Duress can be a reason to have a prenuptial agreement
invalidated.

There are other ways that prenups can be terminated. Incapacity can also
serve as a rationale for having a prenuptial agreement thrown out. If
one party to a prenup was not of sound mind or not capable of sufficiently
weighing the terms of an agreement at the time of signing, he may later
petition to have the document nullified.

A third way of having a prenuptial agreement annulled is through proving
a lack of disclosure at the time of making the agreement. Couples making
prenups are bound to disclose their assets and liabilities so that the
signors fully understand the financial pictures of their co-signors. Some
people try to hide wealth during prenup negotiations and for this reason
provide incomplete information to their future spouses.

Though prenups are great tools to have when divorces occur, they can be
difficult documents to overcome when duress, incapacity and disclosure
problems plague their inceptions. A prenuptial agreement is a binding
contract that cannot be discarded at the whim of the parties. Attorney
Louis P. Winner understands the challenges many Kentucky residents face
when trying to invalidate their prenuptial agreements and can help them
find solutions to their prenup problems.